I never used Matroska myself because I only work with material from video cameras, but it is popular and there should be many options available to you, but:

SEVERE WARNING: do not install something like K-Lite codec packs. That will generally require a complete reformat of your boot disk and a complete fresh install of OS and programs. A typical SNAFU (systems normal, all fouled up) situation.

You want to import a MKV in Premiere, isn´t?. You can´t do it directly. If you convert to anything, you can loss data in the process (unless you choose a uncompressed format). So the best thing is to "unwrap" the MKV and import the resulting file to Premiere, that can may accept it (as are probably h264) without problem.

Next you can edit it, of course.

This is the best to avoid recompressing data.

Maybe in a future Premiere can import MKV directly. I can import a MOV of a Canon, but if these MOV I wrap it in MKV, cannot import it (and it´s the same data, NOT recompressed, only wrapped) ;-)

I had to strongly disagree Harm Millaard's severe warning. I've used K-lite codec packs for years and never had any troubles. Of corse commercial software producers allways have warnings against freeware, they are making their money by selling programs and codecs. Its just nonsense to talk about boot disk reformatting and reinstalling OS. K-lite codec pack is very simple to install and uninstall if needed. It has nothing to do with boot sectors and can't harm any Windows system. I think that his warning is a tendentious attack against free open software developers, who are a thread to commercial companies.

It's been a few months but since is among the first results showing up when searching for Premiere + MKV, I have to ask: How would installing a Codec Pack "require a complete reformat of your boot disk and a complete fresh install of OS and programs"?

Hope, when you will be facing an issue of not working PrPro, AE or any other application caused by K-Lite interference in registry entries, fed up with cleaning registry manually and end up with reinstalling your OS and making a choice in favour of any modern media player - VLC, MPC Home Cinema, PotPlayer or whatever - which utilise their codec libraries without interfering in registry, you won't hesitate to publicly apologise as well...

I use and recommend a lot of free Softwares, but ALWAYS try to avoid codec packs, because it fill the system with a lot of garbage, and some of them replace codecs that Premiere and other Softwares install.

In fact I have some problems installink K-Lite and some others, then Premiere cannot load certain video movies with codecs that K-Lite have replaced!!!. So beware with that!

Mi rule of thumb is to install ONLY the codecs that I need, and only these.

The vast majority of players come with internal decoders, so not need to install codecs.

First, most will replace good, existing commercial CODEC's with ones that are hacked, or reverse-engineered. Some of those do not work, or do not work well. That is why Adobe "hides" its installed MainConcept CODEC's, by using a non-standard naming convention. However, as the CODEC packs also rewrite the Registry, the priority of the commercial CODEC's can be altered.

Next, many CODEC packs also load other components, besides just CODEC's. One of those is often FFDShow. That particular one can cause severe problems with Adobe programs. It can also be very tough to fully uninstall. I hear that many CODEC packs, that do install that, and other components, do a better job with the uninstall function, but with some older versions, FFDShow could not be fully uninstalled. That is what Harm was warning about - things might be better now, but the Adobe Premiere Forums are full of horror stories, especially related to FFDShow. Just do a Search in this, and the CS 4 & Earlier Forums for "FFDShow," and read.

I am with Fuzzy (Reply 15), on ONLY installing the specific CODEC's required, when they are required. I also try to go to the source, which might be free (like Lagarith, or UT Lossless), or commercial, such as MainConcept. I do use a few Open Source CODEC's, so it is not the "commercial" nature, that is the problem, but the exact CODEC's, themselves. I also do not want any program removing any of my CODEC's (many costing quite a bit of $), or altering their priority in the Registry. I hate spending a day in RegEdit, cleaning up a bunch of "stuff."

Good luck, and glad that K-Lite has performed for you. In enough cases, it has not, for others.

Of course you can have conflicts if you use many codecs from many sources. The same problem occurs with commercial and freeware codecs. Open freeware programs and codecs are usually easier to handle, because you can check what installed codecs are doing and get the . Commercial program developers protect their own product from competition and give users minimal information of their valuable knowledge.

Difficulties in uninstalling codecs and drivers is typical with both freeware and commercial products. I just find it very unfair, that Mr Millaard especially mentioned K-lite codec packs which are the most reliable codecpacks I've ever used. Talking about need to format boot disk and OS reinstallation is just stupid intimidation that only shows that the writer has a poor knowledge about Windows file system, MBR and registry. If he has had such occasions, they have not been caused by K-lite packs, they do no changes to MBR.

Bill Hunt mentioned hacked codecs. Hacked products can cause every kind of problems as any viruses and malwares do. He also mentioned that many codec packs install other components. That's just not the case with K-lite. You can precisely define which components you install. If you do not know what to install, it's allways best to install nothing. That means allso, that to avoid conflicts you had to use only products from only one vendor, commercial or open society. Problems can occur even then as we all propably have seen.

I use K-lite mega pask for one and only one reason: I can't afford to pay thousand of € to buy all the codecs needed to open and edit all the dozens multimedia file types that, usually commercial, producers are pushing to market. There are no reasonable common standards in multimedia sector and very little hope thet there will ever be.

Yes K-lite has performed for me. In enough cases, it has done it for others also.

I just find it very unfair, that Mr Millaard especially mentioned K-lite codec packs which are the most reliable codecpacks I've ever used.

It is also the most notorious for causing problems with Adobe software. Your experience seems to be the exception, not the norm.

There are no reasonable common standards in multimedia sector and very little hope thet there will ever be.

There are now and have been for a long time. They're called DV, DVCPRO HD, HDV, XDCAM, AVCHD, etc. These are all standardized formats that professionals use and which Premiere Pro works very well with.

The rest of your rant has nothing to do with reality. I wonder which codecs exactly 'pushed to market by commercial producers' you deadly need to open and edit footages are missing in Adobe Suite and thus you have to spend thousands of € on?

Well... there was a discussion in this forum some time ago. It was about "MPEG-2 codecs missing from Adobe Media Encoder CS6 installed with Creative Cloud Membership". This topic seems to be ended now. Here is one comment from that debate:

"I found the solution from the lack of mpeg support. Now the CS6, imports, exports, have smart rendering working on exports, will gain the hability to export using the powerfull CUDA processord on NVIDIA boards, that divide by almost 3 the render times, and many many presets similars that we found in CS5.5 Leon Unger a friend of mine that live here in the same city of mine, got crazy about this problem. He almost banned from the moderator..... LOL . Also he resign from here ... LOL

So we met last week and "paid to see" , if this codec pack resolves . ROVI TOTALCODE 6 ( http://www.mainconcept.com/products/apps-plug-ins/plug-ins-for-adobe/t otalcode.html ) but is a 1000,00 dolars solution ... I loan half of the ammount to him... This price is for the model of TotalCode with cinema formats in the exporter. He made his calculations and realize that if he paid some technician to convert more thas 200 hous of MPG2 material, the overall cost will be more than US$1000,00 ( around of R$1900,00 ) . So , if you guys will really need MPG2 native like support in PProCS6, will have to get this codec pack. This codec resolves tha infamious error when we will opens a CS5.5 project tha CS6 told tha have the impossibility do convert all formats and etc.

Ok folks,

Best regards, Leossom."

This comment touches a nearby subject.

Of course I have no deadly need for any codecs, but if I want to open and edit for example video files packed with other than Adobes programs I need much wider range of codecs.

As mister Simon wrote there are standards called DV, DVCPRO HD, HDV, XDCAM, AVCHD, etc. Matroska seems to belong to the etc class. That's probably the reason why this discussion is going on.

I want to stress to you Mr Barsik that I was not questioning Mr Millaards expertise about Adobe software. I am questioning this: "SEVERE WARNING: do not install something like K-Lite codec packs. That will generally require a complete reformat of your boot disk and a complete fresh install of OS and programs." On healthy system installing K-lite codecs pack can't cause Windows corruption. It can of course cause problems with Premiere or AE, but many other commercial as well as open programs can cause same kind of issues. Any newly installed software, codecs or drivers can produce conflicts with with other programs. And beside that there is a legion of hardware depending conflicts...

My point is this: It is intellectual laziness to blame K-lite packs for problems, that those packs have nothing to do with. Probably someone will blame K-lite packs if he drops his pc from table to floor and it stops working!

Guess, you hardly realise you are at Adobe Forum, and contributors here share their experience in relation to Adobe products. You have already been explained dozen of times that K-Lite codec pack alters system registry that causes Adobe applications stop working properly and can't be fixed by simple K-Lite uninstall - you have to monkey over Regedit in an attempt to find which entries were altered and therefore need to be cleaned manually or rather run clean OS reinstallation, which in turn requires formatting boot disk.

Having encountered 'boot disk reformatting' expression in Harm's advice, you somehow decided he knows nothing about Windows. Indulge yourself a couple of minutes to search Community Forums for Harm's comments and articles.

Now about your reference to MPEG-2 codecs missing in Creative Clouds. Are you sure it is relevant?

And finally about Matroska etc. (hope, you understand that MKV is a container, not a codec). As Jim already pointed out, PrPro, AE and AME normally see and support all codecs installed in your system. If you really need some extra codecs (DNxHD, UT, Lagarith, x264 etc. etc.) you can easily find them with properly written GUI for safe installation and use with Adobe applications - no needs for a crap like K-Lite, CCCP etc.

if you guys will really need MPG2 native like support in PProCS6, will have to get this codec pack.

For others reading this, I want to make it clear that third-party codecs are not required for PP to work properly. Premiere Pro comes with support for most camera standard MPEG formats, and with that I've found that many, many non-standard MPEG files also work just fine. Not all of them, certainly, but many.

Matroska seems to belong to the etc class.

Actually it doesn't. Etc. in this context meant all the other standardized formats that professionals routinely work with. MKV is not yet on that list. Some day it may be, and if so Adobe will probably add support. But until then...

It can of course cause problems with Premiere or AE, but many other commercial as well as open programs can cause same kind of issues.

Very true. And if you're unlucky enough to be in that boat, the recommendation would be the same. Wipe the System drive and reinstall everything from the OS on up, minus the problematic programs, of course.

It's obvious that we can't find any kind of consensus about this subject. That's probably the reason why we are having this discussion.

"Now about your reference to MPEG-2 codecs missing in Creative Clouds. Are you sure it is relevant?"

This reference was an answer to your question about possibly needed codecs:

"I wonder which codecs exactly 'pushed to market by commercial producers' you deadly need to open and edit footages are missing in Adobe Suite and thus you have to spend thousands of € on?"

Like I wrote it was just an example of expensive codecs and touched a nearby subject.

Seems that that if Adobe products conflict with other solutions, you are always blaming other products. It's very dogmatic way to to figure out what's the reason for problems.

If some newly installed software causes problems for Adobe products and uninstalling program doesn't fix the problem, the easiest solution is to uninstall and reinstall Adobe suite. In very seldom cases you had to reinstall OS and all other programs. And if you know how, you can easily find registry changes that for example K-lite installation has made to your registry. Of course you may have to "monkey over regedit" if you don't know how to manage Windows registry. Like I said: if you don't know what you are doing don't do it. If you don't need extra codecs don't install them.

Usually Adobe suite is a sufficient solution for your multimedia editing needs, sometimes it is not. If you want to use other programs (from Avid, Autodesk or Magix for example) alongside, you had to accept the fact that there will be conflicts and you had to learn to solve them. Formatting hard disk and reinstalling OS and everything else, is a seldom needed foolproof solution for dummies.

Probably the best solution to totally avoid conflicts between programs delivered by multiple vendors is to install 2-3 OS in different partitions. One for Adobe, other for Autodesk or Avid and one for other needs like gaming, netsurfing etc. It is a bit costly, but nowadays hard disks are not too expensive and by that way you can be sure not to loose your important material because of some quite usual but always unexpected software conflicts.

It was a pleasure to discuss (and quarrel a bit too) about this subject. On my part there is nothing much to say unless there are some new interesting arguments regarding the subject.

Your reference to missing MPEG-2 codecs has nothing to do with the necessity to spend thousands of € on those codecs on a pure basis: that discussion was about known bug and its fix (started by Adobe employee by the way), isn't supposed to be normal and hardly made any real user to spend a penny. The comment you quoted called just 'trolling'.

If you prefer to uninstall Adobe Suite so as to keep your pet, it's up to you.

If you're convinced you're a real Windows expert unlike any other participant on this Forum, feel free to explore Adobe users issues related to K-Lite in more details and publish your own article on troubleshooting them. Doubt if there is a demand and you find a lot of followers.

Either the article or its absence will be the proof of which skills you actually possess, BTW.

There is no need to open new discussions of K-lite problems. The solution is this: Before installing any new driver, codec pack or software you just had to make a backup copy of the whole registry. If conflicts appear and uninstalling procedure don't repair registry problems, you simply can replace damaged registry with the backup copy. It's no need to be a glorious expert to do that. If you don't know how to backup registry, there are dozens of commercial as well as freeware programs that can do a backup and use that backup in few seconds (one of the most popular is CCleaner, but there are plenty of them.)

The discussion was not about how to do OS backup and then roll back. The discussion was about troubleshooting issues with Adobe application caused by particularly K-Lite. Wait for another shoe to drop.

There are no troubleshooting issues! If you have conflicts with two software you just had to decide which one to use. If those programs are open code software you can try solving problems inside the program because the code is available for everyone. If it is commercial you have usually no possibilities whatsoever to change program's behavior yourself.

So if I had to choose between Adobe suite and K-lite, I will choose Adobe. I've never had such a situation hitherto, so I use both. Perhaps you don't know, that you can widely modify K-lite megapack's settings just to avoid conflicts with other codecs used by other programs. One of K-lite pack's strengths is its modifiability.

By the way, the discussion was about the ability to uninstall K-lite without the need to format boot disk and reinstall OS, if you happen to remember.

You started from the accusation that Harm's severe warning was based upon money.

When you was explained by many Forum participants the real matter, you rushed to incriminating dilettantism to one of most respectful hardware experts here (not sure you realise how funny you sound) and decided to invent something about thousand Euros a user have to spend on codecs in case he doesn't use K-Lite codec pack, which is a simple lie.

When you was proposed to write an article about troubleshooting issues caused by K-Lite, you started to argue that that was not the point, and you can't offer anything apart from restoring OS from backup point so as to get rid of K-Lite completely (which is definitely the time saver compared to reinstalling OS from scratch, but doesn't change the nature of the solution).

The solution is this: Before installing any new driver, codec pack or software you just had to make a backup copy of the whole registry.

That's not much help for someone who didn't know that before installing. And while I would argue that these days, any editor really should also be something of a computer geek, the fact is that's not always the case. We often don't know the level of a users technical ability, so the recommendation to wipe and reinstall the OS is often the best suggestion when things have gotten too far out of hand.

"SEVERE WARNING: do not install something like K-Lite codec packs. That will generally require a complete reformat of your boot disk and a complete fresh install of OS and programs. A typical SNAFU (systems normal, all fouled up) situation."

There are two possibilities:

1. Mr Millaard really thinks that K-lite pack usually corrupts Windows so badly that it is necessary to totally format the boot disk and reinstall OS and all programs.

That statement is just not true.

a. K-lite can't put Windows in a nonbootable status. It is just impossible. Some rootkit viruses can damage MBR so badly, that you had to fix MBR but even then there is in most cases no necessity to totally reinstall OS.

b. If you for some reason had to reinstall OS it's not necessary to format your boot disk. By formatting a disk you loose all your personal data and that can be a very big loss as we all very well know. You can very well install Windows in an existing partition and by doing so, save all your data.

2. Mr Millaard knows those facts and is still painting horror pictures of catastrophic consequences, following the installation of K-lite packs.

In the first case he really is no expert for Windows issues. In the second case he is intentionally misleading readers who have no knowledge of the facts. I have every reason to believe that Mr Millaard has enough knowledge about Windows. In that case there has to be some reason for his misleading statement.

If someone intentionally compromises some software (in this case K-lite packs), giving wrong information, he must to be prepared to meet even harsh criticism. I really have no idea of Mr Millaards motives, and maybe my critique was too rough, but there is a reason: If someone who doesn't know the facts, believing that nothing can be done, just formats hi's disk loosing all data, it's a pity.

It's fair to get money by selling great products like Adobe suite. It is not fair to blame others for problems in own products. Mr Millaard may or may not have own financial interest that affect his findings, but all the same: He repeats the same liturgy, that is much too often heard, by commercial program vendors: Don't use open-source software!

Dear mister Barzik!

I wasn't talking about OS backup nor any kind of system restore procedure. Making registry backup is a totally different matter. It takes only a few seconds or minutes to backup registry and replace corrupted registry with a copy. Making a copy of your OS takes a lot of time and disk space. Total system reinstallation is yet another procedure and takes even more time and effort. (In my case for example about a week because I have about 100 programs installed for testing purposes.)

The conflict's between Adobe's programs and K-lite pack's is a complicated problem. I can modify K-lite settings and even source code, because it's freely available. Adobe's programs are not open for changes and I have no way to obtain the source code. Nor can I easily find all the "hidden" information written to the registry by Adobe's programs. Beside that Adobe as well as many other software vendors uses installers those you can find in Windows folder. If those are corrupted or missing you can end up in a SNAFU situation mentioned by Mr Millaard. Often you can't uninstall nor reinstall a program. (Then the best and easiest solution may be to reinstall your OS, but not necessarily format your disk.)

The point is that commercial program vendors protect their knowledge for one very good and understandable reason: They make their living by making and selling programs. Adobe is the only actor who has the necessary information required to solve internal problems in their programs.

I agree Mr Simon's point: Often total reinstallation of OS is the simplest solution. Wiping out all data from a hard disk by formatting boot disk is very seldom necessary to install OS.

Never, ever have I detected a situation (in my own as well as other computers) where K-lite pack has caused a situation, where boot disk formatting is necessary!

If you are facing troubles with codecs or need help with K-lite I recommend visiting this side: http://www.codecguide.com/ . There are forums and experts who can assist you with any particular problem. Of course they have not the same knowledge of Adobe's products as Adobe's own personal, but they have no commercial interest to hide any information available for them!

1. Creating registry backup copy is still about creating OS back up point. It's different from creating boot disk image, but I never said you had been talking about creating boot disk image. Like no one here was talking about nonbootable OS because of K-Lite. The only issue here is you for some reason do not listen to.

2. If you are a really good developer and want to understand how PrPro works from this angle, PrPro SDK is at your disposal.

3. If you feel someone gives wrong advice, it's wise to reproduce the issue first, then fix and propose a workaround.

A registry backup is not a system restore point (if you mean that when you are talking about back up point). It's just a copy of registry and useful when you have installed a program, uninstalled it, and easily want to make sure that all chances that program has made to registry has been removed. Making registry backup is a standard procedure when you are testing some program without using virtual machine.

Do you mean that I should have made K-lite pack to corrupt my registry? I really don't know how to do that, because anything like that have never happened to me. That kind of problem usually depends on many factors often related to specific hardware and driver combinations.

I see no reason to wipe out a bootable disk if the system is working. Maybe my conclusion was a bit impetuous. Maybe you will advice me: Why is it necessary to format your boot disk (and reinstall OS) if your system is working and you can make all the needed chances inside Windows?

Irrespective of whether you realise it or not, creating registry backup copy is about creating OS back up point.

Regard to the necessity of formatting boot disk and running clean OS install, you've already been explained by Jim: registry backup copy can hardly help those who didn't create it. Just try to listen to.

I still can't realize why you had to format your boot disk to install a fresh copy of Windows. Neither can I understand the necessity to totally reinstall OS if registry entries, needed for Adobe's products to work properly, are damaged. Uninstalling Adobe suite should remove all changes made by installing that suite, doesn't it? In that case it should be quite simply to uninstall and reinstall that suite. I've done it many times for many reasons and in most cases it solves all the problems. Of course you had to also uninstall the program that is in conflict with Adobe suite first.

Is there perhaps some registry or system chances that are not removed by uninstalling Adobe products? Are those chances possibly on your hard disk outside of OS? An interesting point of view. If such permanent chances are made by some programs (Adobes programs for example), what are they needed for? And if they are needed why uninstalling a product wouldn't remove those chances? And why reinstalling a program wouldn't repair possible residues those are not removed by uninstall process?

You seem to be convinced that all the difficulties in removing and reinstalling Adobe' program's in this case are caused by K-lite pack. It is really difficult to believe that installing and removing K-lite pack can make it impossible to uninstall and reinstall Adobe's suites. K-lite installation doesn't make any undoable permanent chances in Windows registry. Does Adobe products make such chances?

Those are questions that I can't answer, and I think that, only Adobe's own personal knows the answers. It has become clear that those problems are especially difficult with Premiere and AE.

Also it's became clear that those problems usually are unfixable without very strong measures. Nothing more has been said in this discussion. It sounds the same as someone suggest to you to chance the motor in your car or even the hole car, when a spark plug is damaged!

First and foremost, I don't feel the need to concentrate on fixing issues caused by K-Lite for myself, since I don't see any reason to install it. That task is for you.

Since you're unable to understand why one would need to run clean OS install in case he didn't create registry backup copy, let's try to reflect on the following:

- an application altered some registry entries, and the user doesn't know which exactly;

- as a result of this alteration Adobe application cease to function properly, but there are no warranties that other useful application are not affected as well, and after some tests the user suspect they are.

The task is to restore the system to the point it had been at until that damaging application was installed (i.e. to remove all the mess so as to avoid all sorts of the risk, including potential ones).

Therefore, the question is: how to do that aside from restoring from boot disk image or running clean installation?

Several personal attacks and off-topic comments have been removed from some of the posts in this thread. Please keep the discussion relevant and keep personal feelings to yourself or the topic will be locked.